It was a particularly important game for the team for several reasons: 1) It was the first game in our new privately funded $9 million stadium (and the first home game ever under the lights) … which added fanfare and attention; 2) the team wanted to keep their 12-consectutive home-game winning streak alive; and 3) Our 20th ranked team had to knock-off the 13th ranked team to have any hope at a playoff bid.

The opponents scored two touchdowns in the first eight minutes of the game, and by halftime we were down a disappointing 0-24. As you can probably guess, I would not be telling this story if it didn’t have somewhat of a fairytale ending.

Our team came out after halftime re-dedicated and focused on the win, and played with heart. They finished the game by moving the ball 98 yards in less than a few minutes and scored their last touchdown with 16 seconds left for a winning score of 28-24.

As you can imagine, “the crowd went wild!”

It’s not too late to come from behind!

This Monday, as my mind turned back to healthcare social media, I started thinking about all the hospitals and clinics who have gotten a late start in social media for a variety of reasons: budget limitations, C-Suite hesitancy, lack of time or lack of in-house expertise. My message… it’s not too late to come from behind!

Although I don’t know what wisdom the football coach dispensed in the locker room at halftime to motivate our team to victory, here’s wisdom and a few pep talks from some social media coaches to help you prepare your come-from-behind social media plan:

Radian 6 has a free downloadable book called The Social Lineup. Read their wisdom in Chapter 2 (starts on page 5) about finding the right social talent: be flexible, have a willingness to learn, be passionate, be diplomatic, be a great listener, be a story teller, be a blogger, be brave, and be a team player.

Mitch Joel helps calm content fears with his post Nine Glorious Truths About Creating Great Content. His wise reminders include: You are not a machine; you may be great but you’re not perfect; the bad stuff only happens after you start; expression is important; great content can’t be taught; editing content is hard; it’s not the start of content creation that’s hard; complex is bad; and be a part of the culture.

Arik Hanson published 11 Infographics for Your Next Presentation on Ragan’s PR Daily. They are easy on the eyes, tell a powerful story, and are especially helpful when preparing that must-have (but-getting-tired-of-it-because-I’ve presented-it-so-many times) presentation on why-we-need-to-adopt-social-media.

Here’s hoping these resources will help your team develop a come-from-behind social media strategy. It’s never too late for a fairytale ending.

How we help

Hive Strategies helps hospitals engage patients through social media. We don’t manage social media. Instead, we help hospitals develop an effective social media strategy and mentor them through the implementation process. Read about our services. Start a conversation. Email us or call us at 503-472-5512.

Thank you very much for the very kind Radian6 mention, Jean.
Hive puts out a consistent stream of great Healthcare/Social Media content on a daily basis.
Excellent job covering all the bases with the above content as well. HIPAA in particular is a concern for the industry with regards to its social presence and your blog series on that topic was very helpful. So I’d recommend that e-book in particular to your audience.